The H-1B visa legislation in the US, increasing automation, and the fallout of demonetisation have all created considerable impact on hiring by companies.

Hyderabad: The Indian industry has taken a cautious approach in recruiting employees in April-June quarter owing to various factors, including US visa issues, increasing adoption of automation by companies, and the fallout of the November 2016 demonetisation. “While most organisations kick-start their hiring in this quarter on the back of new hiring budgets, Q1 this year has seen companies across sectors take a conservative approach to hiring,” said a survey conducted by jobs portal Wisdom Jobs.

Across industries and sectors, the survey found that only 22 per cent of employers have plans to increase their hiring, as compared to nearly 50 per cent in the same quarter last year.

The H-1B visa legislation in the US, increasing automation, and the fallout of demonetisation have all created considerable impact on hiring by companies.

“While the tightening of visa rules by the United States has impacted only the IT industry, the effects of automation are being felt by technology-focused sectors like IT, telecom and BFSI sectors.”

While sparing the IT and service sectors to a large extent, the survey said demonetisation has impacted the real estate, infrastructure, manufacturing, retail, telecom, and logistics sectors.

The survey also noted that the college pass-outs, who are required to be trained, and mid-level executives with 5 to 10 years, who get slightly better salary, have seen negative demand by employers.

The demand for people with 2-5 years of experience has increased as they don’t command greater salaries and companies too don’t need to invest money to train them in basics. The hiring of people with ‘more than 10’ years’ experience has seen a 15 per cent jump in demand.

The higher demand for people with 2-5 years of experience and those with more than 10 years experience indicate the impact of automation, which has affected the fresher recruitment badly.

It hints at the companies’ preference to converse cash by hiring experts and low-cost employees.

“The hiring outlook, although still positive, will be characterised by a wait-and-watch approach as they come to terms with the real impact of automation, and the consequent need for re-skilling,” said Ajay Kolla, founder of Wisdomjobs.com.

According to the survey, the massive funding crunch and subsequent consolidation witnessed by the startup sector too has impacted the hiring scenario in the country.

Location-wise, Ahmedabad has seen the strongest growth in hiring with a nearly 20 per cent rise. Among metro cities, Hyderabad witnessed the highest growth in hiring at 12 per cent, followed by Chennai (five per cent) and Bengaluru (three per cent). The hiring in Delhi and Mumbai, however, saw a five per cent and 1.5 per cent drop in talent demand, respectively.